Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen

University of Helsinki | HY · Aleksanteri institute

The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Science Plan, released in 2015, addressed a need for a holistic system understanding and outlined the most urgent research needs for the rapidly changing Arctic-boreal region. Air quality in China, together with the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants, was also indicated as one of the most crucial topic...

The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Science Plan, released in 2015, addressed a need for a holistic system understanding and outlined the most urgent research needs for sustainable development in the Artic-boreal region. Air quality in China and long-range transport of the atmospheric pollutants was also indicated as one of the most crucial topics o...

The main research objective of this study is to examine various theoretical approaches to understanding the nature of corporate social and environmental responsibility in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF), as well as the motivation of business to make commitments in this area. Methodologically, the study is based on the structural-fu...

The purpose of this article is to identify relevant indicators for compiling an index of environmental security in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (ASRF) and to rank (ranking) the regions of the ASRF based on this index. A proprietary methodology has been developed for constructing the said ranking. The environmental block of indicators i...

This chapter explores the changing geographies of the state in the Russian Far North by examining corporate social responsibility programs undertaken by the hydrocarbon sector. We focus on a case study of Gazprom Neft’s Rodnye Goroda (‘Home Cities and Towns’) initiative, which is framed as promoting social, economic and environmental sustainability...

By examining how power is constructed and maintained in Russia with the help of hydrocarbons—oil and gas—this article shows why this system is detrimental to Russia in the context of global environmental, technological, and geopolitical changes. While promoting a hydrocarbon culture as central to national identity, the Kremlin has failed to adapt t...

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), broadly defined as a set of governance initiatives ensuring the betterment of workers and communities alongside a corporation’s economic development, holds clear potential in promoting social, economic, and environmental sustainability. How do current CSR programs in cities and towns in the Russian Arctic affe...

This jointly authored essay reviews recent scholarship in the social sciences, broadly understood, that focuses on the materiality of energy. Although this work is extraordinarily diverse in its disciplinary and interdisciplinary influences and its theoretical and methodological commitments, we discern four areas of convergence and divergence that...

Russia is an energy giant in terms of both nonrenewable and renewable energy. Furthermore, Russia has large resources and the technologically relatively well-developed society and economy needed to foster an energy transition towards renewables and a low-carbon economy. Russia has a large bioenergy potential via its forest resources, but its vast t...

This article examines recent renewable energy initiatives in two hydrocarbon rich states of Eurasia: Kazakhstan and Russia. The global nature of challenges surrounding energy and natural resource use demand that sustainability and “energy transition” policies be understood as geopolitical issues, which are increasingly (re)defining political relati...

Studies on energy security in the context of relations between European Union (EU) and Russia tend to focus on cases, with an open conflict related to supply, such as “hard” energy weapons, or on only one fuel, often natural gas. However, there is a need to understand the long-term impacts that energy relations have politically, economically and ph...

In this article we examine Russia’s recent public discourse on climate change, with a special focus on the arguments denying anthropogenic climate change. We scrutinise the ways in which denial arguments presented in the media are tied to the changing Russian political and economic context, especially the increasingly authoritarian turn in governan...

This article describes the Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) program and indicators for monitoring of implementation and digitalization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Russia, especially environmental goals. The authors considered the possibility of integration and identification of the methodological approaches of the socio-economic researc...

The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) program was initiated as a bottom-up approach by the researchers coming from Finland and Russia in October 2012. The PEEX China kick off meeting was held in November 2013. During its five years in operation, the program has established a governance structure and delivered a science plan for the Northern Eurasian r...

This study argues that in a condition of a rapid energy transition Russia’s possibility to use energy trade as leverage diminishes. Therefore, a slow transition to a renewables-dominated world economy is in the interest of Russia. Energy has always been an essential part of geopolitics. Transitions in energy markets and new technologies can have a...

The Biopolitics of Stalinism: Ideology and Life in Soviet Socialism. By Sergei Prozorov . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016. xiv, 337 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. ₤24.99, paper. - Volume 76 Issue 3 - Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen

The chapter scrutinizes Russia’s state controlled gas company Gazprom’s relationship with the population by looking at the construction of sports facilities tied to the all-Russian gas program. Discursive and coercive governmentality come together in the energopower practiced by Gazprom: via amalgamation of energy and sports the “presence” of the s...

The northern Eurasian regions and Arctic Ocean will very likely undergo substantial changes during the next decades. The Arctic–boreal natural environments play a crucial role in the global climate via albedo change, carbon sources and sinks as well as atmospheric aerosol production from biogenic volatile organic compounds. Furthermore, it is expec...

This study unfolds the normalizing narrative that is constructed via the Gazifikatsiia Rossii promotional video released by Gazprom. The analysis reveals that the practiced geo-governmentality of gazifikatsiia derives its power from geographical imaginaries of Russia. This bipartite energopower and geo-governmentality receives its essence from the...

Abstract The Arctic is a sentinel of global change. This region is influenced by multiple physical and socio-economic drivers and feedbacks, impacting both the natural and human environment. Air pollution is one such driver that impacts Arctic climate change, ecosystems and health but significant uncertainties still surround quantification of these...

The Northern Eurasian regions and Arctic Ocean will very likely undergo substantial changes during the next decades. The arctic-boreal natural environments play a crucial role in the global climate via the albedo change, carbon sources and sinks, as well as atmospheric aerosol production via biogenic volatile organic compounds. Furthermore, it is e...

This report presents the recommendations and measures for Finland’s journey toward responsible Arctic development, as identified in the MERMAID-project. The focus is on general issues and business, with a special focus on the maritime cluster and tourism sector. Furthermore, the report presents an analysis of the Russian Arctic energy policy based...

Russia leads the list of countries in which most flaring occurs, with an estimated 15–37 BMC of associated petroleum gas (APG) being burned in Siberian oil fields annually. In view of the environmental impact of flaring and ineffective use of energy resource, fees for flaring are being increased from 2012. Significantly increased fines pose a chall...

In their latest report, the IPCC acknowledges the importance of local governments in conducting climate change (CC) adaptation measures. However, the role of local governments has not been widely discussed in the CC policy literature. In this paper, we attempt to bridge this gap by utilizing the unique interview data from 14 Russian localities, the...

This paper analyses, by using a constructivist methodology, how sustainability is perceived by Russian urban and regional planners and how environmental planning is understood on a discursive level. The planning discourse, which was reconstructed primarily with the help of 14 thematic interviews undertaken in St Petersburg, is positioned on the axe...

In this article the development perspectives of a peripheral and socio-economically marginalized, but ecologically valuable Russian locality are examined. An analysis is made on how two local level administrations construct nature, resource use and environmental questions. These constructions give insights into the future perspectives of sustainabl...

Environmental planning can be defined as urban and regional planning, where the objectives of sustainable development are implicitly included. The Russian version of environmental planning is still quite young, and lacks many of the democratic components its western counterparts have, like the recently developed tradition of communicative planning....

The territory of the Republic of Karelia is discussed in relation to the Russian Federation, of which it is counted an indivisible part, as it has some of the most important forest and water resources of the Federation. The impact of industrialization during the Soviet period is examined, one of the effects being urbanization, another pollution. Th...

In this Ph.D. thesis I have studied how the objectives of sustainable development have been integrated into Northwest Russian urban and regional planning, and how the Russian planning discourse has changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. By analysing the planning discussion, processes, and strategic documents I have also investigated the us...